Two political leaders from rival camps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, have brought the spotlight on rural sanitation and have rooted for defecation-free India by investing in toilet construction on war footing. But a recent study by a group of eminent development economists led by Prof. Dean Spears-a visiting economist at the Delhi School of Economics - has concluded that when it comes to...

-The Times of India The government on Tuesday admitted that a drought-like situation may prevail in parts of western India and said contingency plans were being worked out to ensure drinking water and fodder in distressed areas. Monsoon is delayed Western India is expected to be worst affected and drought like situation might prevail in some pockets," agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh was quoted as saying in a PTI report. The assessment will...

-The Financial Express To cushion the blow of a delayed monsoon that has hit kharif sowing hard, the agriculture ministry has asked farmers to prepare their land and nurseries for direct sowing of paddy (sans re-planting of saplings) and suggested cultivation of less water-consuming crops such as arhar, urad, pigeon pea, groundnut, maize and soyabean. The National Agromet Advisory Services, a joint initiatives by India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ministry of agriculture,...

-Down to Earth   It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank of wood trailing his tractor. After sometime, he adds another row of gunny bags to add weight. On being asked what he was doing, Jaspal replies, "I'm levelling my field. A lot of water is lost if the paddy fields...

-The Tribune The community has to pay the cost of environmental degradation if sustainable agricultural practices are not followed. Food can also be produced by in-built provisions for ecological services. For this, sustainability issues have to be addressed with policy support. An ecosystem is a dynamic, complex, functional unit of diverse living organisms, physical environment and humans are its integral part. The wellbeing of mankind depends upon food, water, fibre, medicine, flood...